Chicago

By Alan Gottlieb When the British newspaper the Telegraph asked readers which of six suggested measures they would like to see introduced in the House of Commons, the response was surprisingly tilted toward one significant proposal. Of the six suggestions, which included setting a flat tax and placing a term limit on the office of prime minister, what drew more than 86 percent of reader support was a proposal to repeal the handgun ban of 1997. This is an unscientific poll, but the results should signal to U.S. gun prohibitionists that their habitual use of the United Kingdom as an example of domestic tranquility where guns are concerned just took a direct hit in the credibility department.

Independence coach Paul Riley hopes that his team's second of three straight road games goes better than the first. The Independence suffered their first-ever Women's Professional Soccer loss with last week's 2-1 defeat in St. Louis against the Athletica. Now it's on to Chicago for Saturday's 7 p.m. game with the Red Stars. The Independence are 2-1-2 while Chicago is just 1-3-1, although the one win was a 2-0 victory at Boston, a place where the Independence played the Breakers to a 1-1 draw.

MATT CULLEN scored 90 seconds into the game and again in a shootout to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over visiting Chicago on Wednesday, handing the Blackhawks their first loss in seven games this season. Cullen's snap shot in the third round slipped between Corey Crawford's legs, and Patrick Sharp then hit the crossbar for Chicago. The Blackhawks and San Jose were the only teams to start 6-0 this year. The Wild improved to 4-1 at home. Goals by Andrew Shaw and Jonathan Toews early in the first period prompted the Wild to pull goalie Josh Harding for Niklas Backstrom.

Ulf Dahlen didn't wait long to make an impression on his new teammates. Playing in his first game since Chicago acquired him from San Jose over the weekend, Dahlen scored the winning goal at 3:32 of the third period to lead the visiting Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers last night. "If I missed that shot, it would have been embarrassing," Dahlen said of his game-winner. "Tony made the play - I just put it into an empty net. " Dahlen referred to Tony Amonte, who had scored his 31st goal 38 seconds into the period to tie the game.

I'VE JUST returned from an end-of-summer family trip to Chicago, and I feel like I understand Philadelphia better than ever. Travel is a risk for Philadelphians because it raises touchy questions like, "Why not here?" The downside risk is that the question leads to resignation. The upside risk is that it leads to inspiration. Get enough people inspired and "Why not here?" becomes a slogan rather than a question. Recently though, Chicago has been used as an example to avoid.

"Wonder where they got the name Chicago?" My lunch partner with the inquiring mind likes to know such things, particularly since the restaurant in the Pennsauken Country Club looks like a restaurant in a country club and not a bit like one in the Windy City. Seems that the restaurant started out as Chicago at another South Jersey location and then moved with the name intact. These days, following the recent announcement that Chicago has been singled out by a leading wine magazine for its outstanding wine list, business has been so hot that it could remind you of the Chicago fire.

Last week at about this time, the Eagles were sky high after their amazing victory over Washington. But they got their feet on the ground quickly, knowing that they had to prepare for the Super Bowl champion 49ers. This week, they don't exactly have that far to float after losing to the 49ers, but they still have a scintillating matchup to look forward to. That's the way the Eagles' early-season schedule goes - big games week after week, with no time to stop and analyze the meaning of the last performance.

THE YOUNG Detroit Red Wings have made the mighty Chicago Blackhawks look vulnerable, beating them two straight times to gain an advantage in their last playoff matchup as Western Conference rivals. Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller scored 31 seconds apart midway through the second period and Pavel Datsyuk restored a two-goal lead in the third to help Detroit beat visiting Chicago, 3-1, last night and take a 2-1 lead in the second-round series. As good as the Red Wings have looked - scoring six straight goals to earn momentum in the series - their hard-driving coach isn't ready to celebrate.

"Whin ye see two men set in opposite corners while one mutters 'thraiter' an' th' other hisses 'miscreent,' ye can bet they're two Dimmycratic leaders tryin' to reunite th' party. " So spake the barkeep philosopher Mr. Dooley, the long ago creation of that great Chicago humorist, Finley Peter Dunne. In his pithy way, Mr. Dooley was saying the same thing as the German philosopher Hegel, who held that a political party can be said truly to exist only when it is divided against itself.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey acknowledged today that he talked to Chicago's Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel about possibly returning to the Windy City to become top-cop there. Emanual initiated the contact, Ramsey said, but no job offer has been made. "Clearly I'm torn," Ramsey said. "I love Philadelphia . . . but I can't just dismiss (Chicago). It is my hometown, the department where I started my career. But it's not as if I'm unhappy here. " Ramsey, a Chicago native, still has family there.

Bruno Bartoletti, an orchestra conductor who was associated with the Lyric Opera of Chicago for a half-century and who championed modern opera as well as classic works, died Sunday in his native Tuscany, a day before his 87th birthday. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where the maestro had served as artistic director from 1985 until 1991, said Mr. Bartoletti died at a Florence hospital after a long illness. In a career that saw Mr. Bartoletti conduct well into his 80s - he directed Giacomo Puccini's Manon Lescaut at Florence's Teatro Comunale in February 2011 - he served as the first music director of Chicago's Lyric Opera, starting as guest conductor there in 1956, when he was relatively unknown.

CHICAGO - A Lebanese immigrant was sentenced Thursday to 23 years in prison for placing a backpack he believed contained a powerful bomb along a bustling city street near the Chicago Cubs' baseball stadium. Sami Samir Hassoun's sentencing in federal court in Chicago came little more than a month after bombs concealed in backpacks exploded at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding hundreds more. In imposing the sentence, the judge invoked the specter of the Boston Marathon, saying had Hassoun's bomb been real, it would have made Boston look like a minor incident by comparison.

Bryan Bickell scored a go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Chicago Blackhawks held on to beat the host Detroit Red Wings, 4-3, in Game 6 on Monday night, giving the NHL's top-seeded team a shot to advance to the Western Conference finals. The Blackhawks, who trailed the second-round series, three games to one, began the third period down by one and were up by two goals midway through the period after an offensive flurry. They needed the cushion because Damien Brunner scored with 52 seconds left to pull Detroit within one. The Red Wings pulled their goaltender but were unable to score.

CHICAGO - The Chicago Board of Education voted yesterday to close 50 schools and programs, an ambitious plan that has sparked protests and lawsuits and could help define - for better or worse - Mayor Rahm Emanuel's term in office. City officials say the closings are necessary because of falling school enrollment and as part of their efforts to improve the city's struggling education system. "The only consideration for us today is to do exactly what is right for the children," schools chief executive Barbara Byrd-Bennett said before the board's vote.

THE YOUNG Detroit Red Wings have made the mighty Chicago Blackhawks look vulnerable, beating them two straight times to gain an advantage in their last playoff matchup as Western Conference rivals. Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller scored 31 seconds apart midway through the second period and Pavel Datsyuk restored a two-goal lead in the third to help Detroit beat visiting Chicago, 3-1, last night and take a 2-1 lead in the second-round series. As good as the Red Wings have looked - scoring six straight goals to earn momentum in the series - their hard-driving coach isn't ready to celebrate.

Saturday at 7:30 p.m., PPL Park TV: TCN Records: Fire, 2-6-1; Union, 4-4-3. Fire on the road: 0-3-1; Union at home: 1-2-2. Goals for: Fire 6; Union 14 Goals against: Fire 15; Union 18 Last MLS outing: The Fire lost to the visiting Union, 1-0, on May 11. The Union lost, 4-1, to the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday About the Fire: Maicon Santos leads the Fire with two goals. . . . Midfielder-forward Chris Rolfe has one goal and a team-high 25 shots.

JACK McINERNEY scored his seventh goal and Zac MacMath earned a shutout as the Union defeated the host Chicago Fire, 1-0, on Saturday. "Every game you know you are going to have to make saves to keep your team in it, especially on the road when you are trying to get the shutout," MacMath said. "We have to do the same things going forward that we did today, which was fighting, having heart even when things aren't pretty. The guys stayed together. We didn't quit and as a result we got the three points.

Saturday at 8 p.m., Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Ill. Records: Soul, 2-3; Rush, 4-2. About the Soul: These teams haven't played since 2011, when Chicago defeated the Soul, 62-28. . . . The Soul's defense is tied for fifth in the Arena Football League with an average of 263 yards allowed per game. However, the defense allowed more than 50 points in all three losses. . . . The Soul rank second in average fewest rushing yards allowed, at 17.6 per game, and have allowed the fewest rushing touchdowns in the league, three.